Nailed his open jumpers, which made up for being burned by Afflalo in the first quarter. He really has to do very little to earn a high grade in these columns as little is expected of him. Play within yourself and keep your skill/FGA-quality ratio in check and you’ll be as loved as Antoine Wright.

17 points on 19 shots in terribly inefficient but in light of the win let’s focus on the positives here. Had a couple nice rolls which were converted to scores in the fourth quarter, had two blocks without even leaving his feet, and wasn’t as bad as a black hole as he usually is. There were stretches in this game where his presence was felt and the defense was worried about him, I’d say that’s an improvement given his wretches season thus far.

Not the first time a physical matchup has caused him trouble, and not the first time he’s responded to it after having a think of things. There’s no doubt Baby Davis and even Vucevic game him pause, but after settling down he hit the offensive glass, kept balls alive and dare I say, frustrated his opponents by collecting 4 very hard-fought offensive rebounds.

Brutal defensively all afternoon on the pick ‘n roll. Whichever big was part of the set can also be legitimately crucified here, but Calderon deserves to be called out. The ease at which dribble penetration was allowed was appalling, and no sort of help defense could make up for it. A big fat assist count did enough to make up for it against a poor opponent, but let’s be blunt: defensive performances like this cannot continue against a half-decent opponent.

Everything’s fine in the big time. The mid-range game was in effect with the exception of a stretch in the third where he was guilty of over-reliance on it. When it mattered in the fourth, though, he did what he does best and that’s to slither his way to the rim. He is, easily, the go-to player on the Raptors right now and despite his suspect ball-handling at times, remains the guy you want taking the shots that matter.

Ed Davis, PF8 MIN | 2-3 FG | 1-2 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 5 PTS | 0

Limited deployment for Ed Tonight, with Casey opting to go with Johnson and Kleiza for an extended stretch.

After delivering a typically unproductive performance in the first three quarters, AJ3000 decided to go full-throttle, starting with a dunk which earned him a tech for slapping the backboard, nailing a three, and then banging Baby Davis’ wife. His fourth-quarter play has to be the most effective stretch of play by any Raptor this season.

Delivered big time in the fourth quarter in his coveted role of energizer. The key here is to nail threes, which he did twice, and to hit the glass, which he did five times. Do this consistently and he’s likely to become the first guy off the bench.

John Lucas, PG11 MIN | 1-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 2 PTS | +1

Came in, had a look around and hoisted four times in 11 minutes, which is too high of a rate for him.

Terrence Ross, SG4 MIN | 0-1 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 0 PTS | -2

Apparently, he played four minutes. I don’t recall them.

Five Things We Saw

Raptors allowed 50% shooting in the first quarter, but held Orlando to 40% for the game. The primary cause was extremely poor pick ‘n roll defense with zero communication/strategy between the people defending it, namely Calderon/Johnson/Bargnani/Valanciunas.

The transition defense was much better with the Magic only scoring two fast-break points. Give credit to the guards here who made a concerted effort to recover quickly. It also helped that the Orlando wings which more content to bringing it up than pushing it.

This here is DeRozan’s shot-chart. Those makes are getting more and more diverse, and what that shot-chart doesn’t tell you is the separation he’s able to create. Well done.